Commutation-ticket



R. BORGFELDT.

COMMUTATION TICKET.

Mmc/www msn ocT. 9, 1915.

Patented Aug. 15, 1916.

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RICHARD BORGFELDT, OF METUCHE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF TO HERBERT G. LATIIVIER, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

COMMUTA'IION-TICKET.

Original application filed September 24, 9, 1915.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that l, RICHARD BORGFELDT, a citizen oi' the United States of America,

and residing at Metuchen, in the county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have y invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Commutation-Tickets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to commutation tickets such as is disclosed in my former application, Serial Number 863,319, iled Sep tember 24, 1914, of which the present'application is a division.

The leading object of the present invention is to provideI an improved railroad ticket to be used by commuters between points speciiied on the ticket, and which will j prevent certain abuses to which the use of the tickets of the character named have been commonly subject.

ln the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a commutation ticket embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan of a railroad.

Commutation tickets as now commonlyy printed bear punch boxes consecutively numbered and entitling the holder thereof to continuous rides in either direction between the points named on the ticket. One of the express conditions of a commutation ticket is that it shall be used for a continuous ride between the points specified thereon, except in the event that the train boardi ed by the owner of the ticket does not travel the full distance called for by the ticket, in which event the holder of the ticket is entitled to complete the journey by boarding the next connecting train. 1t has been the common practice of the railroads however to issue commutation tickets on which the size of the punch boxes is so small that they will accommodate but a single punch to the box, and the conductor is instructed to punch a boximmediately the train leaves the terminus A or C between which the ticket is issued.- Asa result of this practice, a degree of uncertainty and. looseness of requirements has creptin, which has become the occasion of various abuses lof the commutation ticket and results in serious losses to the railroads.

Perhaps the most serious loss is occasioned by the use of commutation tickets by drummers having business at various sta- Patented Auw. 15, 191B.

1914, Serial No. 863,319. Divided and this application filed October Serial No. 54,986.

business here, he boards the next accommodation train and rides to station 2, later to 3, and so on. When approached by the conductor after boarding the train, say at station 2, he states that he possesses a commutation ticket which has already been punched, and the conductor is commonly satisfied with this. It the conductor, however demands inspection oi the ticket and discovers that the alleged punch is not his own, he commonly punches another box. rlhe conductor has, however, permitted the use of the ticket not only for travel initiated at a way station, but also for travel between way stations, both of which uses are outside the -conditions of the contract under which the ticket is sold. Again, since the punch box` bears no indication of the direction in which the journey is initiated, it is possible to travel say from A to B, where the train stops. It is possible to return later to A from B on a train starting at B and connecting with a train from C which stops at B and with which it is destine-d to make connection. It the ticket is presented, unscrupulously, as a continuation of a journey initiated at C, it enables the user to travel back from B to A on the same punch box as that on which he traveled earlier in the day from A to B. As has been stated, however, a commutation ticket is issued, and at a reduced rate, only for a continuous vride between the points specified. 1t can not properly be presented for a stage by stage journey between the stations named, and in fact cannot properly be presented for transportation on a trip initiated at an intermediate point. Obviously it cannot properly be presented for a journey both to and from an intermediate station.

To remedy the abuses noted and other misuses of the ticket, 1 now provide the improved ticket herein shown. rilhis ticket has at its head, the usual space 5 for the name of the issuing railroad, the points for travel between which the ticket is issued, and the period during which it is to be accepted; the box 6 for the dating stamp and the box 7 for the notice that the ticket is subject to the terms of contract printed on the back; while the conductor will at once punch its numeral,

9, thereby denoting that the box is exhausted since the holder has had the opportunity for the through travel between A and C for which the 'ticket is issued. It cannot be offered at l, 2 or B for a continuation of a journey unwarrantably interrupted by the holder of the ticket. If the commuter boards a train going only as far as B, the

conductor punches one of the insignia 10 to indicate the direction in which the journey is initiated e. g., east. Obviously it will not be accepted by the conductor of another train for a return journey west from B, since this box is good only for a completion of the journey already initiated in the opposite direction.

In each of the above cases the second conductor is entitled to collect fare from the holder of the ticket, from the point at which the train is boarded to the destination, since the ticket is issued only for a continuous journey between the points mentioned in the ticket. The passenger is not entitled at any time to board the train at an intermediate station and present the ticket for aride from such stationsay from 2 to C. The ticket j must be presented at A for a continuous ride to C; or at C for a continuous ride to A,

j with the sole exception of trains going no j `farther' than B, and in such case only on the next connecting train. If the conductor of the connecting train at B is familiar with the punch of the conductor of the preceding train stopping at B, he can readily observe whether or not the passenger who presents i for further travel a partially punched box,

has traveled on the next preceding train or on some earlier train and should have gone forward by an earlier connecting train. If

the latter is the case, the conductor is entitled the ticket which remains uncanceled.

to collect fare from the passenger.

It will be clear from the foregoing that the u practice of drummers heretofore mentioned of journeying by stages between the points specified in the ticket is readily checked by the use of a ticket of the character described, since the presentation of 'a ticket having its serial number punched indicates i that the journey has been begun on a through train and the stop-over was unwarranted,'fy while the presentation of a ticket punched at 10 indicates its exhaustion to the point B. Furthermore, the constant rule prevails that a ticket from-A to Ckis never good from an intermediate station (e. g. 1, 2, 3, etc.) except it be a terminus such as B and then only on the next connecting train.

The ticket herein shown has the advantage over that shown in Fig. 1 of my former application hereinbefore referred to, in that whereas the latter has its punch boxes arranged in a single series of sixty, as 4is the usual form for a monthly ticket, the form shown in the present divisional application has the boxes arranged in a double series of thirty each, corresponding to the days of the month, and preferably symmetrically arranged with relation to each other. Each box has a direction indication, but in a single direction only. Consequently the conductor may punch only that box which corresponds to the day of the month on which the trip is made and will punch one box for the journey in one direction, and the other box for the journey in the opposite direction. For a journey initiated on a train going only as a far as B from either A -or C, the conductor punches in the appropriate box the insignia 10 designating the direction of travel, and the ticket can obviously be presented for continued travel only on the same date on which it is initiated since the punch box in question shows its use on that date.

It is one of the privileges attaching to a commutation ticket, however, that the holder may ride more than once in a single day between the points specified in the ticket. To

provide for this contingency, the ticket may have two or more of its rows of boxes provided with stars 11, one of the rows for travel in one direction and one for travel in the opposite direction. In case the commuter has exhausted the boxes designated for the date in question, say, box 2; but again wishes to make the round trip on that date, the conductor now punches in one of the boxes containing the star l1. By punching the star he indicates that there has been no ride on the date to which the canceled star box corresponds, but that ride has been taken on some other date as an extra on that date. Consequently, on the date of the canceled star box he may punch any box on The particular form of ticket may be varied in accordance with the particular dev applied to a school or teachers ticket, and in the following claims the expression commutation ticket is used in a sense broad enough to cover this type of ticket also.

I claim as my invention v 1. A commutation ticket having a series of punch boxes thereon, said ticket having printed matter entitling the owner to continuous rides between specified points, said punch boxes comprising two groups having like consecutive numbers for the boxes therein, each group bearing travel-direction indicia thereon common to all of the boxes in one group and opposite to the travel-direction indicia with which the boxes in the second group are supplied.

2. A commutation ticket having a series of punch boxes thereon, said ticket having printed matter entitling the owner to continuous rides between specied points, said punch boxes comprising two groups having like consecutive numbers for the boxes therein, each group bearing travel-direction indicia thereon common to all of the boxes in one group and opposite to the travel-direction indicia with which the boxes in the second group are supplied, the punch boxes in each group being symmetrically arranged with relation to each other.

3. A commutation ticket having a series of punch boxes thereon, said ticket having printed matter entitling the owner to continuous rides between specified points, said punch boxes comprising two groups having like consecutive numbers for the boxes therein, each group bearing travel-direction indicia thereon, common to all of the boxes in one group and opposite to the travel-direction indicia with which the boxes in the second group are supplied, certain of the boxes in each group having indicia therein to designate their acceptability for passage on dates prior to that for which they are normally available.

n testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specication, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RCHARD BORGFELDT.

Vitnesses:

RODNEY L. MARGHANT, L. H. GROTE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

